RAPAPORT... Hari Krishna Exports has become the first diamond company to open a manufacturing facility in Surat’s state-of-the-art Gujarat Hira Bourse, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hari Krishna’s new center, HK Hub, features three buildings that will focus on cutting larger diamonds, a company spokesperson said Patek Philippe Nautilus replica watches Wednesday. The site complements the firm’s existing facility in Surat, HK Campus, where it mainly manufactures smaller stones.

About 4,500 of the company’s 7,000 employees will be located at the new compound, with the rest working from the old factory or the company’s sales office in Mumbai. The company produces a total of 500,000 carats of polished diamonds each year, it said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Modi said India should move toward designing more jewelry rather than just manufacturing it.

These comments echoed his call to the industry last month to focus more on offering custom-made jewelry — a message he delivered by live video feed at a Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) conference in Mumbai.

Modi has made a series of appearances in the country’s diamond industry in recent weeks. On Monday, he told an audience at the opening of the Kiran Multi-Speciality Hospital in Surat that he would represent the India diamond trade in a visit to Israel in July, according to The Times of India.

“I’m the first Prime Minister to go to Israel, and I’m going there on your behalf,” the report quoted him as saying.